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Tuesday, 15 April 2014

Consequences by C P Odom

This is a variation on Pride and Prejudice in two books –
the first explores a less happy outcome, which Elizabeth dreams prior to
Darcy’s proposal at Hunsford, and the second book looks at what could have
happened if she’d prudently accepted his proposal and so doesn’t give him the
vehement response that changed his behaviour.

To make sense of this book I think it’s important to
appreciate something of the state of affairs in the Bennet finances – Mr
Bennet’s estate was entailed on Mr Collins. In the event of his death pretty
much everything Mr Bennet owned would revert to Collins, and he could evict the
Bennet ladies. Mrs Bennet would have a
minuscule income and would probably have to rely on family such as the
Gardiners and the Phillips family to support her and her daughters. The girls
could potentially find genteel work but their options were very limited. Jane, Elizabeth
and possibly Mary could perhaps have found jobs as governesses, but the younger
girls had a poorer education. Ladies could become a paid companion (such as Mrs
Jenkins, Anne de Bourgh’s companion) but I think these tended to be widows
rather than maidens.

The only way to secure the future of the family after Mr
Bennet’s death is for his daughters to marry, preferably all of them, but if just
one of them married a man who was rich it would secure the future of all the
sisters. Yet, in Pride and Prejudice
Elizabeth spurns not one, but two advantageous
proposals. A modern reader can understand and sympathise as to why she does
this – she has no respect for Collins and actively dislikes Darcy, but I wonder
what somebody reading Pride and Prejudice when it was first published would
have thought. Would they have thought
Elizabeth was selfish to have put her own happiness ahead of her family’s
security? When Elizabeth tells Jane that she has rejected Darcy’s proposal she
asks Jane “You do not blame me, however, for refusing him?” so Elizabeth is
certainly aware of the difference it could have made. She doesn’t seem to feel the same about
Collins’ proposal, but that was nowhere near as good a match.

In Book One, C P Odom explores what could have been the
consequences of Elizabeth turning down Darcy’s proposal if she’d never met him
at Pemberley. Here, Elizabeth gives the scathing refusal that she gives in
canon, and events follow the path of Pride and Prejudice until Elizabeth and
the Gardiners go to visit Pemberley. Darcy’s horse gets a stone stuck in his
hoof, meaning that Darcy arrives later to Pemberley than in Pride and
Prejudice, so he doesn’t see Elizabeth. This in turn means that there is no
follow up visit to Pemberley, and obviously when Elizabeth gets the letter
telling her that Lydia has eloped Darcy is not there to tell, meaning that
Lydia is not found in time to prevent lasting damage being done to her sisters’
reputation, leading to them being shunned by Hertfordshire society. This is how
bad things get, look at this quote from poor Jane:

“I cannot deceive
myself any longer that everyone is good – I have become aware there is indeed
evil in the world.”

The story follows on for the next forty or so years, showing
what Elizabeth’s life could have become. Obviously, this is not the happiest of
stories, but I thought it was an interesting exercise in exploring what could
have been. Much of the book deals with happenings that are in Pride and
Prejudice anyway, so it doesn’t really start feeling sad until they miss each
other at Pemberley. I felt it wasn’t too far-fetched or unkind, although the
fate of the Bennets could have been happier. I thought Elizabeth faced
adversity courageously and with good humour.

Book Two sees Elizabeth waking from her dream. She doesn’t
remember the details, only a vague recollection of some things, but she knows
it was a bad dream. Charlotte Collins suspects that Mr Darcy is interested in Elizabeth,
and, being a prudent person, she sees all the advantages of it. She works on
Lizzy to extract a promise that if he were to propose that Lizzy won’t dismiss
it out of hand. She has some interesting arguments in regard to Darcy’s
behaviour in Hertfordshire, and his likely reasoning for interfering with Jane
and Bingley. Charlotte is so persuasive that when Darcy proposes to Elizabeth,
although he makes offensive comments regarding her family, she manages to bite
back the words of her retort and asks for time to consider.

When she does, she can’t help but think of all the financial
advantages her family would receive from the marriage – lifetime security for
her mother and her four sisters, and the probability that Jane and Bingley will
cross paths again, thus securing the happiness of Elizabeth’s most beloved
sister. Lizzy wryly tells Charlotte “It is truly distressing to have such
sensible arguments occur to me when I want to ignore them”.

The thing that swings the balance towards
accepting Darcy is her vague recollection of the dream, that it could be a
terrible mistake to reject him. Elizabeth has also begun to wonder whether
she’s judged his character correctly; she’s obviously massively misjudged his
feelings towards her at the very least. After considering, Elizabeth decides to
act prudently and accept the proposal, politely making it clear that since she
is only just aware of his interest she cannot pretend to have the same level of
feelings for him that he’s expressed to her.

At first, I wasn’t very keen on this calculating portrayal
of Lizzy who sees Darcy as a bit of an improvement project:

“Perhaps she, in time,
could soften the harshness of his pride and arrogance. It would need slow, careful work; his
character had been formed over the years, and modifications could not be
accomplished overnight. In the meantime, it was essential she not damage his
regard for her, for his affection would be the motivation to induce him to
change his manner, if such were actually possible.”

In this view I am joined by Jane, who calls Lizzy out on her
obstinate view of Mr Darcy as an unpleasant man:

“I would only ask you
respond to him in a more kindly and less calculating fashion than was indicated
in your letter.”

Go Jane! From Jane Bennet, this is the equivalent of what
would be strong disapprobation from anybody else. Luckily, Lizzy makes a
conscious effort to improve her attitude, and finds many good sides to Darcy
that she never suspected. The Gardiners love him, she finds that he has a sense
of humour, and she cannot fail to appreciate his loving behaviour toward his
sister.

I felt a bit sorry for Darcy in this book (as opposed to the
first book where I felt very sorry for them both!) because he realises that
Lizzy has accepted him solely for prudent motives, and that she finds him
lacking. He has a number of moments when
he realises times when he has not done himself justice in her eyes, such as in
his behaviour in Hertfordshire, and when he finally hears the lies that Wickham
has told about him he then finds out that Lizzy believed him capable of such
behaviour. I am pleased to report that there is a lovely happy ending to this
book, but it was a little sudden. I felt
the book could have done with a few chapters after they finally had equal
feelings so I could revel in it a bit. I think the reader deserved to wallow a
bit in happiness at the end of this book to balance out the book overall.

One thing I particularly appreciated about this book was the
care taken with the language, as often these books have language that doesn’t
fit the setting. There were very few instances throughout the book that jumped
out at me, which was refreshing, although Mr Bennet says at one point that
Lydia won’t get a cent from him, this was a rare lapse! Since I knew it had quite a sad first book I
started it when I had time to read right through the first half and that
approach worked well for me! On the whole, I really enjoyed this book, and I’d
recommend it. I will only add, for the
benefit of those who prefer to avoid them, that there are no sex scenes.

About Me

I've loved reading for as long as I can remember. I usually read romance, both historical and contemporary but I'm not usually a big fan of chick-lit. My favourite author is Jane Austen, and I really enjoy reading stories inspired by her work. I also love many of the works of L M Montgomery, Georgette Heyer and Mrs Gaskell, amongst others.